UPDATE: Call Unilever for coupons (maybe)

UPDATE: The Daily Press received this response from the Unilever press office on Friday morning:

"The coupon booklet is indeed a legitimate offer. We often take a multi-channel approach to reach all of our valuable consumers."

Over the past few days, many frugal and freebie bloggers have been passing around a phone number for shoppers to call and request a free coupon book from the global brand company Unilever.

Unilever makes and sells many household brands, including Axe, Bertolli, Caress, Dove, Klondike, Pond's, Q-tips, Ragu, Suave and Vaseline, among others. You can see the brand list, here.

Instructions for the freebie tell shoppers to call 1-866-204-3942, listen to an automated message and respond with your name, phone number and home address. A coupon book will be sent to those who participate.

But doesn't this seem a little odd? Why would a global company as large as Unilever enlist a phone system to collect data to send out a coupon booklet? Under this system, it would seem a person would have to listen to and transcribe all of the messages in order to send out the coupon booklets.

Ever heard of the Internet? It'll do that data collection thing for you.

So, as for Savvy Shopper, I'm checking with the Unilever press office to see if this one's legit. Cause, ya know, it's not 1999 anymore.